Thaler
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: If you cap it,they will download it
said by TKJunkMail  :And I disagree. As long as it is free, no level of quality and low price will satisfy most pirates. Their belief that they are entitled to everything for free is the major driving force in their selfish philosophy of life. But what's the financial harm in this venture? If only 5% of pirates download a high quality, DRM-free, and correctly priced video file...isn't that making more than the whopping 0% of pirated film "losses" that they're getting now?
It just really sucks that the people willing to pay for entertainment (ie. their paying customers) get a shoddier product than the bootleggers peddle around for free. |
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Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
 ·Site5.com
 ·AT&T Midwest
 ·Comcast
| said by Thaler :said by TKJunkMail :And I disagree. As long as it is free, no level of quality and low price will satisfy most pirates. Their belief that they are entitled to everything for free is the major driving force in their selfish philosophy of life. But what's the financial harm in this venture? If only 5% of pirates download a high quality, DRM-free, and correctly priced video file...isn't that making more than the whopping 0% of pirated film "losses" that they're getting now? It just really sucks that the people willing to pay for entertainment (ie. their paying customers) get a shoddier product than the bootleggers peddle around for free. I agree with you that these products should be free of DRM and such protection. There has to be a competitive price point by the makers of music, games, and movies to make it worthwhile to purchase.
I remember when DVD movies were being ripped and distributed on P2P. DVDs were very reasonably priced and had a ton of extras. People were saying that the MPAA were doing something right by including a lot of extras in their product to sell it. Even today, DVDs are doing well with this model.
The problem is that pirates will always feel like they are entitled to something for nothing. Even if the price was just a couple bucks, a lot of pirates would still take it. There has to be stiff penalties in store for people who do break the law in situations like this. To say that its ok to acceptable for 95% of the people to take your product with a cheaper price and no DRM than 100% for a higher priced product isn't a winning proposal for a business. |
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Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| The problem is the blanket use of the word "pirates". Some people are talking about the people who have been doing this for 10-20 years, and will not change. Other's are talking about everyone who has ever or will ever download copyrighted content. Most People who have or would consider pirating, would rather get the content through a legit service. Provided equal quality the content creators have the following potential advantages:
1. Ease of use
2. Ease of locating
3. Ability to distribute
4. No worry of data integrity (Virus/Trojan/etc.)
I've been VERY disappointed with the re-broadcast offering of the major networks. (and I have an HTPC already setup). Thank god I have a DVR, or I would watch 0% of their shows. |
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Thaler
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall :To say that its ok to acceptable for 95% of the people to take your product with a cheaper price and no DRM than 100% for a higher priced product isn't a winning proposal for a business. True...but there's two major problems in the marketplace:
A.) Pirates *will* always defeat any amount of DRM a company puts forth.
B.) The more they DRM up their legit products to counteract the inevitibility of A., they begin impeding with customer's fair use. (ie. see the Bioshock PC-game release fiasco)
Basically, these production companies are investing major bucks to effectively piss off their paying customers, and pirates are still getting away with the media they seek to protect. Locks just keep honest people honest. Sticking with some simplistic DRM keeps your average Joe Blow from bootlegging with ease, yet also enables your tech savvy paying customers to still support your venture.
DVDs are the penultimate "happy medium" with piracy. They're cheap enough (and loaded with extras) to make piracy trivial to most, yet simple enough to keep the entry-level techie coming back for more. |
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Thaler
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| reply to Ahrenl
said by Ahrenl :Most People who have or would consider pirating, would rather get the content through a legit service. Bingo. I'd support more legit distribution services if they weren't starting to load themselves with more useless DRM bloat. Take a look at the continuing Sony DRM fiasco(s). There's no way in hell I'd buy another disc, as I'm not about to jeopardize my computer with their crapware. |
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Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·Site5.com
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
| reply to Thaler
said by Thaler :said by Nightfall :To say that its ok to acceptable for 95% of the people to take your product with a cheaper price and no DRM than 100% for a higher priced product isn't a winning proposal for a business. True...but there's two major problems in the marketplace: A.) Pirates *will* always defeat any amount of DRM a company puts forth. B.) The more they DRM up their legit products to counteract the inevitibility of A., they begin impeding with customer's fair use. (ie. see the Bioshock PC-game release fiasco) Basically, these production companies are investing major bucks to effectively piss off their paying customers, and pirates are still getting away with the media they seek to protect. Locks just keep honest people honest. Sticking with some simplistic DRM keeps your average Joe Blow from bootlegging with ease, yet also enables your tech savvy paying customers to still support your venture. DVDs are the penultimate "happy medium" with piracy. They're cheap enough (and loaded with extras) to make piracy trivial to most, yet simple enough to keep the entry-level techie coming back for more. I 100% agree with you. The problem is that I believe that DRM as a whole is a hastle as it is. IMHO, they should do away with it entirely. As you said, pirating has been around as a whole for years and years. There is no stopping it. The only way to reduce it is to make the product affordable, make it widely available, and not protect it.
At the same time though, there has to be stiff penalties for people who are caught pirating. It can't be the 300 pound elephant in the closet that no one talks about because its always going to be around. |
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